During July and August of 2013, Democracy International conducted a performance evaluation of the Azerbaijan New Media Project (ANMP) implemented between 2010 and 2013 by the International Research and Exchange Board (IREX). ANMP followed from USAID’s Development Objective 2 in its Country Development Cooperation Strategy, which sought an increase in “effective participation of diverse actors and institutions in the democratic development of Azerbaijan,” and Intermediate Result 2.3, which sought to ensure that “access to unrestricted, high quality information [is] expanded and legally protected.” There were two corresponding subresults: 2.3.1 “citizens’ access to information through new media technologies increased,” and 2.3.2 “journalists, bloggers, and media professionals legally protected.” ANMP is USAID’s centerpiece to achieve these results.

The overall project goal of ANMP was to “improve the quantity and quality of news and information produced, distributed, and consumed throughout Azerbaijan by citizens, civil society and youth, in an environment protective of an increasingly supportive of the rights to produce and consume independent news and information.” To achieve this goal, ANMP pursued three objectives: (1) expand youth and regional community online media through increased public access to and use of digital technology; (2) strengthen and network legal defense and media advocacy organizations; and (3) increase the quantity of high quality or innovative content production.